Linda Jones
A gospel-trained soul singer from Newark who recorded for Cub, Atco, Loma and Turbo, had her biggest hit with "Hypnotized" in 1967, and died in 1972 at 27.
Newark and the Kerr records
Linda Jones was born in Newark, New Jersey on December 14, 1944 and started singing at six in her family's gospel group, the Jones Singers. Her first record, in 1963, was a Jackie Wilson cover, "Lonely Teardrops", backed with "Cancel the Celebration", issued on Cub as Linda Lane, with both sides written and produced by Bill Cook. In 1964 the songwriter Jerry Harris found her at a Newark nightclub and introduced her to the producer George Kerr, and Harris and Kerr wrote and produced most of her records. Singles followed on Atco in 1965 ("Take the Boy Out of the Country") and Blue Cat in 1966 ("Fugitive from Love").
Loma, a Warner Bros. subsidiary, was her best home. "Hypnotized" in 1967 was the label's best seller, and "What've I Done (To Make You Mad)" reached number 8 on the R&B chart the same year. Loma closed in late 1968. A 1969 single on Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, "I Just Can't Live My Life (Without You Babe)", was written and produced by Kerr with Richard Tee arranging. Two Kerr-produced singles on Neptune, the Gamble and Huff label, followed in 1970 with modest R&B success, and in 1971 she signed to Turbo, a New Jersey label owned by All Platinum.
The last records
Her Turbo singles include "That's When I'll Stop Loving You" (1970, number 40 on the R&B chart), "Stay with Me Forever" (1971, number 47) and "Not on the Outside" (1972, number 32). Her last big record, "For Your Precious Love", reached number 15 on the R&B chart and 74 on the Hot 100 in 1972, the title of her second album, which reached number 35 on the R&B albums chart; her first, Hypnotized, reached number 26 on the R&B albums chart in 1967. Robert Christgau gave the 1972 album a B+, writing pretty amazing, in its way. She died on March 14, 1972, aged 27, in the days after a run of shows at the Apollo in Harlem, and All Platinum issued three albums of earlier and unreleased material.
Soul Talkin' (2008), produced by her daughter Terry Jones and Helen Bruner, was released on Philerzy Productions, and Wikipedia says its track "Baby I Know" was Grammy-nominated at the 51st ceremony, though the grammy.com page we read does not mention it. Later compilations include The Complete Atco, Loma and Warner Brothers (2014, Real Gone) and Precious: The Anthology 1963 to 72 (2016, Kent Soul). Artifacts were added to the Grammy Museum New Jersey Legends Exhibit on June 3, 2021, and Sherman Avenue in Newark was renamed Linda Jones Way on December 14, 2021, with the day marked as Linda Jones Day.
Albums
Songs
- Hypnotized Hypnotized · 1967
Her biggest hit, released on Loma in 1967 and the title track of her debut LP.
Sources
- Linda Jones, Wikipedia
- Soul Serenade: Linda Jones, Hypnotized, Popdose
- Linda Jones (1944-1972), You Can't Take It, Joint Z of the Day
- Christgau's Record Guide: J, Robert Christgau